Coin dispensing device

ABSTRACT

The present invention refers to a coin dispensing device which pushes out one or several coins at a time from a plurality of coin tubes in such a manner that dispensing the correct number of coins is always ascertained. Variation of the number of coins to be dispensed is accomplished by replacement of a single adjusting member on the coin cassette. Thus eliminating the necessity of modifying or adjusting the base unit.

United States Patent [191 Englund et al.

[111 3,841,341 [451 Oct. 15, 1974 COIN DISPENSING DEVICE [75] Inventors: Gosta Roland Englund, Stockholm;

Bjorn Sture Lundell, Alvsjo; Claes-Goran Lindelow, Taby, all of Sweden [73] Assignee: Svenska Dataregister AB, Solna,

Sweden 22 Filed: June 12, 1972 211 Appi. No.: 262,062

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data June 24, 1971 Sweden 8223/71 [52] US. Cl. 133/4 [51] Int. Cl. G07d H00 [58] Field of Search [33/4, 5

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Potter l33/4 1,252,021 l/l9l8 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 224,459 l/l9l0 Germany l33/4 Primary Examiner-Robert B. Reeves Assistant Examiner-Joseph J. Rolla Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Norman Friedman; Stephen A. Roen [57] I ABSTRACT The present invention refers to a coin dispensing device which pushes out one or several coins at a time from a plurality of coin tubes in such a manner that dispensing the correct number of coins is always ascertained. Variation of the number of coins to be dispensed is accomplished by replacement of a single adjusting member on the coin cassette. Thus eliminating the necessity of modifying or adjusting the base unit.

4 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATENTEBUEI I 51914 SHEET 10F 2 Fig. I

COIN DISPENSING DEVICE As a result of the increasing need for coin dispensing devices, for instance in retail business where these devices, together with cash registers, are used as change dispensers, there is a great need for their mass production. It is desireable that the change dispenser is designed so that manufacturing can be made uniform, i.e., the change dispensers should be designed in such a way that the same base units can be produced, and modifications, such as adaption to a various countrys monetary system, can be made by using additional elements or special detachable parts.

In change dispensers it is necessary to design the mechanisms which push out one or several coins at a time from each tube in such a manner that dispensing the correct number of coins always is ascertained. Such mechanisms, which usually consist of feeding or dispensing arms, each one provided with a vertical edge contacting the coin, are forced against the coins in the coin tube and will dispense one or several coins depending on the length of the arms vertical edge. Depending on whether one or several coins are to be dispensed by the dispensing arm and depending on the thickness of the coins in different coin tubes, the length or height of the vertical edge of each dispensing arm must be adjusted individually. The reason why the height of the edge must be adjusted also to the thickness of the different coins is that very worn coins have rounded edges. If a thin coin having a thickness of 1mm, for instance, and having rounded edges is to be dispensed by an arm at least 50 percent or preferably 70 percent of the thickness of the coin, i.e., 0.5 mm, must be contacted by the vertical edge of the dispensing arm in order that the edge shall not slide below the coin and thereby not dispense it. Now, if all the vertical edges of all arms are made 70 percent of the tiickness of the thinest coin for instance, i.e., 0.7 mm, a coin having a thickness of 2 mm for instance, will be hit by a 0.7 mm edge which means that only 35 percent of the thickness of the coin will be hit. This is not enough in order to obtain the dispensing of a worn coin with rounded edges.

In order to get the differences in the height of the edges of the coin dispensing arms it has been suggested to manufacture such arms with vertical edges of different heights. This means that a plurality of different arms must be manufactured and mounted in the change dispenser. This of course is expensive and time consuming.

It is also known to utilize a change dispenser having equally designed dispensing arms for all coin thicknesses and the adaptation to different coin thicknesses have been made by separately adjusting the height of each arm in relation to the coin thickness by means of adjusting screws. This adjustment is unreliable because it cannot be made exact and because at least one adjustment screw for each arm is needed. These screws can come loose and cause the wrong number of coins to be dispensed.

In the above described change dispensers the adaptation of the vertical edge of the coin dispensing arms is made within the change dispenser, i.e., within the part of the dispenser which can be regarded as a base unit where modification for the different monetary systems for different countries are not normally needed. The adaptation of coin tubes which is necessary, both as to diameter and number, is made in a special easily detachable cassette or magazine.

The device according to the present invention eliminates the disadvantages of prior art devices. All adaptations and modifications take place in the coin cassett, i.e., the lengths of the vertical edges on the dispensing arms are adjusted and the diameters of the coin tubes are varied within the cassette without the necessity of modifying or adjusting the base unit.

FIG. 1 is a front view of the coin cassette of a change dispenser according to the invention with a part of its front wall cut away;

FIG. 2 is a view in section along line II-II in FIG. 1 showing coi'n dispensing means and base plate for thick coins;

FIG. 3 is a view in section along line IIIIII in FIG. 1 showing coin dispensing means and base plate for thin coins.

In FIG. 1 there is shown a cassette in a coin dispensing device, also called change giver, this device being intended to be electrically connected to a counting business machine, such as a cash register, and which in dependence of the information entered into the machine and/or information counted by the machine, dispenses coins during certain modes of operation.

The cassette of the change giver, which has the reference symbol 2 in FIG. 1, comprises two side walls 4 and 6, a back wall 7 and a front wall 8, the front wall being i in the form of a cover, which can be turned forwardupward in the figure around shaft 10 to uncover the front part of the unit limited by said four walls within which all means in the change giver cassette are arranged.

Cassette 2 consists of a separate unit, which by means of a simple turn of the hand can be moved downwardly in a box-like part of the change giver and can easily be taken out from that part. The change giver contains all the necessary means for its function, i.e., electric motor, coin dispensing mechanisms, etc. This box, which is conventional and therefore not shown on the drawings, can receive a cassette which is to be used for any countrys monetary system and thus has a design which is independent of the system chosen, which means that the change giver, without the cassette, can be manufactured without any consideration as to which countrys monetary system it is intended to be used. The adaptation necessary is exclusively made in the cassette. This will be described in more detail below.

Eight coin tubes 14-24 are arranged in a row in the forward part of the change giver and are accessible, for instance, for refilling coins by turning cover 8 upwards. Eight coin tubes are the number of tubes which are necessary in order to be able to dispense the necessary number and denomination of coins in the American monetary system. The number of coin tubes is thus dependent on the monetary system used and can easily be varied within the scope of the present invention.

Coin tubes 14-24 are manufactured from any suitable plastic material, and it has been possible to manufacture them with the same length due to variation of the thickness of the base plate, which will be further described below.

The only difference between the tubes is their diameter which is adapted to the diameter of the coins. Each coin tube 14-24 is mounted (not shown) in the back wall 7 and contains a number of coins of a certain denomination. Coin tubes 14-24 are cylindrical and each one is, in its front part, provided with a wide vertical slot through which a number of coins is visible.

In FIG. 2 there is shown a detailed vertical section of coin tube 12 which is situated to the far left in FIG. 1. There is also shown a base plate 26, which is manufactured in one piece, preferably from steel, and which forms the support for the coins in all the coin tubes. There is also shown a dispensing arm 28 for the coins in tube 12.

Base plate 26, which is mounted to side walls 4 and 6 is provided with a horizontal slot 30 within the area below each coin tube. A horizontal reciprocably moveable coin dispensing arm (such as arm 28 in FIG. 2) runs in a horizontal slot 30. Arm 28 is not placed within the cassette but in the base unit (not shown). Each dispensing arm, such as arm 28 and an arm 32 (FIG. 3) for the coins within tube 22, receives its reciprocal movement by means of a mechanism within the change giver. The mechanism is solenoid actuated but as it has nothing to do with the present invention it is not shown or further described.

The dispensing arms 28, 32 which during a cycle of operation will dispense coins from associated tubes, first receive a movement to the left in FIGS. 2 and 3 to dispense the coins on the-base plate 26, i.e., the coins which lie on the plate. If it is now assumed that arm 28 shall dispense a coin, a pin 34 on arm 28 will move to the left in a horizontal guiding groove 36, the width of which is somewhat greater than the length of the pin, while pin 34 is depressed upwards against the upper surface of the groove by means of a spring 38 fastened to am 28. The other end of spring 38 is fastened to the change giver. Pin 34 extends horizontally in FIG. 2 and has a length which is somewhat greater than the width of slot 30. During operation an upper vertical edge 28a on arm 28 will contact the periphery of the coin lying on plate 26 and push it forward until it glides from the plate and falls down in a channel (not shown) for further movement to a coin collecting cup, for instance. The coin lying over the last mentioned coin is prevented from moving depending on the bottom edge of the coin tube. Thereafter, arm 28 is pulled backwards to the right to the home position shown in FIG. 2 in which it will rest until a new operation cycle for dispensing coins is initiated.

Since the coins in the different coin tubes have variable thicknesses and since it is necessary that the vertical edge 28a on arm 28 (32a on arm 32) at least hits approximately 50 percent of the maximum thickness of a coin, the height of edge 28a and 320 must be adapted to the particular coins within each coin tube. This is accomplished according to the invention by varying the thickness of the base plate 26 on the spot where the different coins are lying.

As is evident from FIG. 2 the thickness of the base plate, i.e., the distance between the plane on which the undermost coin is resting and the top surface of the guiding groove (the surface against which pin 34 is springed biased) is equal to the distance a, which means that the edge 28a hitting the coin, which in the present example has a thickness of 2.31 mm, has a height of b 70 percent of 2.31 mm 1.62 mm.

In coin tube 22 in FIG. 3 coins are piled up, each one having a thickness which differs from the thickness of the coins in FIG. 2. In FIG. 3 the thickness of each coin is 1.47 mm and the coin resting on plate 26 thus is to be hit by edge 32a with a height of b 70 percent of 1.47 mm 1.03 mm. This is accomplished according to the invention by means of plate 26, for during its manufacturing it has been given the thickness of a' mm which thus exceeds the thickness a in FIG. 2 by 0.84 mm, i.e., the difference between the thickness of a coin in FIG. 2 and a coin in FIG. 3.

The reason why at least 50 percent and preferably percent of the thickness of one coin must be hit by the vertical edge 28a and 32a is that coins, after a certain period of use, are worn, i.e., their thickness is decreased and the two edges around the periphery are rounded. If a coin due to wear has been considerably rounded and the vertical edge 28a or 32a is less than approximately 50 percent of the thickness of the coin, edge 28a or 32a will slide under the coin which is intended to be dispensed and only raise it in its right edge in the figure instead of pushing it to the left and dispensing it. The probability that this will happen will be greater when there are a small amount of coins in tubes 12-24, i.e., when the pressure from above on the lowermost coin is small.

Due to the fact that coins having different thicknesses are arranged in tubes 12-24 in cassette 2 an adjustment must thus be made of the part on the coin dispensing arm 28 and 32 which hits the coin. According to the invention this adjustment has been made by varying the thickness of the base plate 26 instead of designing the dispensing arms with different height edges or adjusting their height in relation to the coin thickness by means of adjusting screws arranged in the change dispenser, i.e., in the part of the change giver which does not include the cassette.

The lowermost part of each coin tube 12 and 22 in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 is situated to such a height, in relation to base plate 26, that it prevents more than one coin from being dispensed during each machine cycle. However, if it is desireable to dispense more than one coin, for instance two, during each machine cycle, which is shown in FIG. 1, the forward lower edge of coin tubes 18, 20 and 24 do not prevent the two coins nearest to base plate 26 but prevent the coins above these two coins from being dispensed. For example, if two coins are to be dispensed from a tube simultaneously the vertical edge 28a and 32a on dispensing arm 28 and 32 must bepositioned to such a height that it covers the thickness of one coin plus 70 percent of this thickness. The adjustment to said height is done as previously described by using a particular thickness of base plate 26, below the associated coin tube.

It should be noted that various modifications of the described device can be made within the scope of the claims without departing from the essence of the invention. Thus, instead of base plate 26 being manufactured in one piece, an individual plate under each coin tube can be used, the thickness of which is adapted to the coin thickness and the number of coins which are to be dispensed during a machine cycle from this tube. The individual plates can be mounted to the bottom plate of the cassette or to any other suitable part in the cassette.

It is thus not intended to limit the invention to the above-described embodiment but only limit it to that which is recited in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A coin dispensing device comprising:

a plurality of coin tubes, each of which dispense one or more coins per cycle of operation,

a plurality of coin dispensing means, one for each 2. The device as in claim 1 wherein, said flat member consists of a plate extending below all of said coin tubes.

3. The device of claim 1 wherein said coin dispensing means includes a first member which cooperates with the side of said flat member which is opposite the coin tube, and wherein the thickness of said flat member within the coin tube area determines the height of the portion of the coin dispensing means that contacts the coin or coins to be dispensed.

4. The device as in claim 3 wherein said first member includes a pin, and wherein said flat member has a guiding means therein in which said pin is guided, and wherein said coin dispensing means further includes a spring means in operative association to each of said coin tubes for forcing said coin dispensing means against said coin or coins within the plurality of coin tubes. 

1. A coin dispensing device comprising: a plurality of coin tubes, each of which dispense one or more coins per cycle of operation, a plurality of coin dispensing means, one for each coin tube and in operative relationship thereto, a portion of which engages with said one or more coins to be dispensed, said portions having a front vertical edge, each of said front vertical edges being of the same height, and a single adjusting flat member, in cooperative relationship to all of said coin tubes and all of said coin dispensing means, on which the lowermost coin in each coin tube rests, for varying the height of said portion of the coin dispensing means which is in contact with said one or more coins.
 2. The device as in claim 1 wherein, said flat member consists of a plate extending below all of said coin tubes.
 3. The device of claim 1 wherein said coin dispensing means includes a first member which cooperates with the side of said flat member which is opposite the coin tube, and wherein the thickness of said flat member within the coin tube area determines the height of the portion of the coin dispensing means that contacts the coin or coins tO be dispensed.
 4. The device as in claim 3 wherein said first member includes a pin, and wherein said flat member has a guiding means therein in which said pin is guided, and wherein said coin dispensing means further includes a spring means in operative association to each of said coin tubes for forcing said coin dispensing means against said coin or coins within the plurality of coin tubes. 